Second half of the Hooks season ought to be interesting with all of the recent additions (and wouldn’t surprise me if more are coming).
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Memorial Day Look at who is standing out with the Hooks:
Joes Loperfido - The 24 year old from Duke is currently riding a 9 game hitting streak and a 13 game on base streak. His .314 average is good for 6th in the Texas League, while his .438 on base percentage leads the league and his 1.009 OPS is good for 2nd.
One area of concern is he has recently been striking out more (12K’s in last 8 games).
He is flexing his flexibility spending time at 1B, 2B and all three outfield positions this month.
Drew Gilbert - With just 16 games under his belt at AA, Gilbert is showing he was ready for the promotion. His slash line is .315/.431/.426. The power hasn’t made the move from Ashville to CC but everything else has. He has a hit in 13 of his first 16 games at AA.
Rhett Kouba - Was impressive in April with 25 strike outs to 4 walks in 17 1/3 IP. In May, he only struck out 24 in 26 IP but only walked 1 (one) batter during that time.
One thing to watch is hard contact. In May, he only gave up 23 hits but 8 went for extra bases (4 2b, 1 3B, 3 HR).
Colton Gordon (whose middle name is Zimring) has had a great month of May. In 25 innings pitched, he struck out 30 and walked 8 during that span. After compiling a 6.75 ERA in April, his May ERA was 2.16 bringing his season ERA down to 4.04.
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I am ashamed I missed this in my memorial day report but let’s talk about Spencer Arrighetti for a bit.
After finishing April with a cringeworthy 11.05 ERA, a 1.977 WHIP and a .349 Batting average against in 14 2/3 IP. He struck out 13 and walked 7 in April.
He has really done a 180 in the month of May.
After striking out 12 last night in 5 innings, his numbers for May are amazing! In 27 IP, he has amassed a 0.67 ERA, a 0.741 WHIP and a .136 BA against. He struck out a total of 37 batters in the 27 innings while walking 8.
His BABIP in April was elevated at .412. In May it was way down at .231. With .300 being the “norm”, April looks really, really unlucky and May looks a he had several bounces go his way.
Some bigger picture info, he limits hard contact. He has given up 10 extra base hits out the 34 hits he has surrendered. Nine of those were doubles and just one HR.
Let’s talk the running game for a bit. On April 20th, The San Antonio Missions ran with abandon on Spencer and battery mate C. J. Stubbs to the tune of 6 out of 6 in stolen base attempts. That outing gave opponents 9 for 9 in stolen base attempts through his first three outings. Since that game, in the last 6 outings there have only been two successful attempts with him on the mound and three unsuccessful attempts. BTW, Hooks catchers are a combined 17% at throwing out baserunners with Stubbs being most successful at 26%. So he must be doing something different to control the running game this way.
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First 10 AA games for Dezenzo: .313/.463/.469 with 7 walks and 7 strikeouts across 41 plate appearances. He and Joey Loperfido are the system’s biggest breakouts of the year so far.
Correction: the above stats apparently did not include last night’s game where Dezenzo went 4-5. His slash line through 11 games in Corpus is in fact .378/.500/.568.
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Luis Aviles was signed by the Astros and assigned to CC on 6/6. He had been released by the Padres after hitting .184/.252/.276. The 28 yr old shortstop spent two games in indy ball and then 2 games in the Mexican league before finding his way back to the Texas League with CC.
He had a pretty good week. Hitting 5 home runs, 11 RBI and batting .368. He hit a HR to tie the game in the 9th Sunday and then walked it off with a HR in the 11th. Good enough to be the Texas League Player of the Week.
He is clearly a depth piece and not likely to make the major league roster but that week is worth a post.
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The dreaded D-Word strikes Gilbert:
https://twitter.com/chandler_rome/status/1669493106411028480?s=46&t=_4W-U911mubCNOp4yJ1_OQ
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Was the left elbow the one he injured last year?
No, it was his right last year.
Ok, injuries are really starting to piss me off this year.
Gilbert has been back in the OF this week. He has also hit in 5 of 6 games. The one game he didn’t get a hit, he walked 2 times. He has also scored in 5 of 6 games.
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Right now, Gilbert and Clifford are the only two untouchable prospects in the system (imo).
ETA - that was a great piece of hitting.
I’d probably add Luis Baez to that tier. But everybody oughta be “untouchable” right now, in the sense that this team shouldn’t be buying at the deadline.
I just ordered a bunch of Corpus Christi Cumbias gear so thanks for that.
OutSTANding sale happening at the Cumbias store, by the way. Like, everything I bought was $10 including the $40 fitted hats kind of lunacy.
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Good call on Baez. He’s right there with Melton and Arrighetti as guys I’d also consider putting on the “untouchable” list. And as much as I want to agree with you about not buying at the trade deadline, the Astros have so many problems/injuries right now I don’t see how they can’t make that sort of move.
And now thanks to your post I just picked up some fantastic Cumbias gear. Might turn into one of my better sartorial decisions, if I do say so myself.
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Man, I tell you what. I feel sorry for the people that aren’t on top of this.
The guys at the winery are going to be mighty jealous when I start rocking that sweet as cap.
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I got the fitted cap and that sweet black t-shirt.
Wanted to get that black tshirt, but Large was sold out.
Drew Gilbert selected to the Futures Game